There is a route in Sant Josep that is brimming with history that will take you back to remote times when the earliest industries began to emerge in an island which had been showing considerable economic promise since Phoenician and Carthaginian times. Activities that established Ibiza as a commercial hub, which even by the 4th century AD was already strategically important. Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Christians… every step along the way of this particular route has history written all over it and below we show you where and how to find it.

Let’s start from the beginning. At the southern end of the popular Playa d’en Bossa beach, on a rocky hill covered with brushland, rises the 16th century watch tower built to protect workers in the salt pans from marauding pirates. This is the Es Carregador tower. It takes its name from the activity for which it was well known, as in the shelter of a small harbour and quay, the remnants of which can still be seen, the salt destined for Ibiza was loaded, as part of an industry that began in the Phoenician period, but which under Arab domination and subsequently Christian rule, grew to become an important export.

The small half-moon shaped cove where the harbour known as La Xanga lies, also reveals one of the activities carried out in the area, line fishing for tuna and its subsequent salting and loading for dispatch. In fact, at present, the ancient, cobbled square where all this commercial activity took place-and which at one time covered an area of 6,000 m2, is being meticulously restored-to bring to light all the elements of this past industry.

However, the loading of salt as well as the fishing and salting of tuna was not the only activity that kept-this little corner of the coast busy in the past. By the Roman era, the island was considered an important producer of Tyrian purple which was used to dye fabrics, mainly wool. Purple dye was obtained from the shells of three species of mollusc and their exploitation was extremely intensive, to the point where the populations became practically extinct. La Xanga was one of the main places where the shells were extracted and ground.

This area is easily accessible and will give you time to contemplate and discover every aspect of what was once an important industrial site: the mole, the water cisterns, the tower that protected the workers… stones that speak to us of their history and industry.